Effective if not brilliant, Gotham Knights offers us a different reading of the Court of Owls but above all a video game around the universe of Batman, with the absence of the latter and different gameplays to fill his absence. . The game has continuity in ideas, supported by very good technique, despite a limited level of performance. Ideas but a questionable achievement, especially when you go behind a saga that served as a reference and model for its own genre. Wanting to be too ambitious, Gotham Knights struggles a bit to be effective in all areas. But its artistic direction and the second part of the proposed adventure are worth the detour. Besides, we're all ready to roll again when it comes to saving Gotham, right? From the introduction, Gotham Knights immerses us in the heart of the matter and the latter is not a secret, since it is the very basis of the story of the game: Batman is dead. The first minutes reveal us when and how, and by whom and you suspect that following the huge leak on the identity of the final boss, having also revealed all the characters present, we will be careful not to give you the details of his death. Still, the Dark Knight is no more and to replace him, it is his young proteges, surrounded by the tireless Alfred, who will be responsible for defending Gotham: Red Hood, NightWing, Bat-Girl and Robin. In terms of dubbing, everyone has a very distinct voice, but the most striking thing is that everyone has a personality of their own.
EACH HIS ROAD, EACH HIS PATH
Personality which also reflects in their gameplay. Jason Todd (Red Hood) - killed by the Joker, as we recall, and having switched to the dark side following this tragedy - is a big guy who has trouble repressing the violence in him and wants to play with his fist (see more) to resolve The problems. You can imagine that his gameplay is the heaviest of the band, with reduced mobility compensated by the use of his two guns. Barbara Gordon is more subtle and she is the best qualified to play the Solid Snake on missions, Robin is also an ace of stealth and movement, which suits her pathological shyness and her difficulties in asserting herself within the group. As for Dick Grayson (Nightwing), he is the leader, the one who tries to keep everyone afloat and above all united and who ultimately has the most complete gameplay. Quickly grouped together in a makeshift HQ, the Belfry, our four vigilantes find themselves in a HUB from which the player can practice new techniques, discover the game's features in tutorial mode and above all determine with whom he will play. wants to go on a mission. Few clues reveal in advance the type of events that await us, which sometimes leaves us in the dark for the choice of the character to play. In itself, this is not very serious since apart from Red Hood, the three other costumed vigilantes are also mobile and fast in the execution of their blows. The same goes for the infiltration phases even if the evolutions of Bat-Girl - like the remote hacking of the cameras - and Robin during the game put them in a slightly more advantageous position for this. But then really a little. We will say rather that with these two characters, these phases are a little more comfortable to apprehend.
RPG TOO MUCH
Provided you have ensured the evolution of your vigilante. Gotham Knights plays the action-RPG card from the start and the elements of this latter genre are ultimately ubiquitous throughout the adventure. The outfits worn are scalable, either due to the level of XP and the amount of resources acquired in the various chests scattered throughout Gotham - not to mention the items left for your attention by Batman himself - or due to the story. Costumes adapted and referenced for the fight against the Court of Owls are available - and therefore strongly recommended to wear -... when the plot switches to this precise point. Ditto during the confrontation with Mister Freeze, or during several repeated sequences of infiltration. The regret that we can feed at this stage is that this logical evolution of the character does not ultimately take place completely through the main story. Some moves, gadgets or other features are only playable and integrated into your journey once certain side quests have been completed (such as boss challenges or those in Knight mode, which are decisive for obtaining certain improvements for your heroes). Obviously, we must justify the life of the open world that Gotham offers us this time and we must recognize it, the map is gigantic. It's just a shame that fun and/or important tools necessarily go through unattractive secondary tasks. But let's stay a little on the size of the map and therefore, of the proposed playing field.
The Bat-Cycle does not deliver any sensation of speed - it is not the few effects around the wheels that will deceive many people - and above all proves to be quite heavy when driving.
A RUSTY BACYLE
Gotham is so huge and to travel around it, no Batmobile this time, but the Bat-cycle, a kind of overpowered motorcycle allowing you to cross the city in all directions and which you just have to “summon” (you will understand while playing) whenever you want. This is certainly one of the big flaws of Gotham Knights: if the vehicle is customizable, it is however not really handy. The Bat-Cycle does not deliver any sensation of speed - it is not the few effects around the wheels that will deceive many people - and above all proves to be quite heavy when driving. It's not obvious when driving over a bridge or other expressway. But this is really penalizing in town and this frankly painful driving reminds us a little of that of GTA vehicles. Another license, another issue but this inevitably poses a problem, especially when you know that apart from a few trips on foot here and there - or in a glider once unlocked eh - the Bat-cycle remains the best way to get around quickly in Gotham. Arf. Especially since the ride is not unpleasant, far from it. By finally choosing to release only on next-gen consoles and PC, Gotham Knights had to pass the aesthetic cut and the mission is rather fulfilled from our point of view. The cutscenes are really high quality, even if we sometimes noticed a lack of warmth in the expression of certain characters. The scale modeling of Gotham is hyper detailed, with life in it - almost as much as in the episodes of the Arkham saga and the rendering is truly stunning. At this level, there is no need to panic: the game is beautiful. On the other hand and, just like the Bat-cycle, it is a rather important stumbling block all the same, we can always discuss the general animation of the title and in particular the sinews of war in a game based on Gotham : the fight.
MUCH BETTER IN HIS 2ND PART
Certainly, as it is not Rocksteady at the wand, we could expect that the combat system is partly similar but not exactly the same on arrival. And that's the case. Already pointed out by some during the various gameplay trailers offered in recent months, the fights suffer from a lack of rhythm and percussion. Clear ? It's a bit soft. Tonfa hits don't seem to actually hurt or at least not hurt enough to convince us to do any real damage. If things work out - we'll come back to this, because it's general - during the game and especially in its second part, with a more aggressive and beefy bestiary, generating longer and better thought out fights, we don't find the salt of the fight of the old Batman, which confirms what we already knew: if there is a little spirit of Arkham in Gotham Knights, it is light. The observation is valid for infiltration. The solutions for dodging enemies are much less numerous, the situations, which acted as tables at the time, are much less closed - not really a feeling of being behind closed doors in the rooms with several enemies to kill - and, apart from a few situations, the game does not invite either - except for the skill eh - to necessarily take the path of discretion to clean an area. This cannot be trivial on the part of the developers, who certainly wanted to make their game as accessible as possible and satisfy as many different playing styles as possible. Too bad to have focused a little too much in this case on this point, where the old recent versions of Batman strive to seduce the most people with its unique gameplay.
...we don't find the salt of the castagne of the old Batman, which confirms what we already knew: if there is a little Arkham spirit in Gotham Knights, it is light.
"COME BACK BATMAN!"
We said it above, it is in its second part that Gotham Knights draws all its strength according to us. Where the plot finally gets carried away. There, the Court of Owls, the great protagonist of the title, also makes its appearance. Before ? We grope, like our four vigilantes, to understand what is happening. Iconic villains are there, more or less attached to the story, which can even lead to a bit of confusion at times. They at least have the merit of having secondary missions linked to them, missions which will, once again, have an impact on the RPG part of your adventure. Mention well to the episode of the prison with Harley Quinn and a part of stuffing-pifs in music totally in the spirit of the character. One of the best passages, certainly, of the beginning of the game.
